International Manifesto Group

Manifesto

The International Manifesto Group is best known for its manifesto, a document which outlines the direction it believes the global socialist movement should follow. It promotes Third Worldism, a variant of Marxist ideology which emphasizes the role of indigenous peoples’ struggles and the rise of countries like China (and Maoist movements such as the Naxalite guerrilla faction in India) in fomenting a global socialist economy. ² It invites individuals to sign the manifesto and gives them the opportunity to publicly share their signature. ³

It released its manifesto, entitled “Through Pluripolarity to Socialism,” in September 2021. It opens with quotes from the Communist Manifesto and other writings by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and proceeds to offer a Marxist account of the history of the 20th century, celebrating the “welfare states and regulated capitalisms” that were secured by “working people’s struggles” after the Second World War, but deploring the reversal that occurred with “four decades of policies favouring capital” and “neoliberal financialized capitalism.” ⁴

It blames these trends for alleged “unproductive plunder,” “mass poverty,” “shocking inequality, festering social division, draconian political repression, a growing threat of exterminist nuclear war, mass movements of population and an ecological emergency of climate warming, pollution and biodiversity loss, rendering our planet increasingly uninhabitable,” and a “raging pandemic.” It warns that the alternative to socialism is “human and planetary annihilation.” ⁴

It commends Palestinians for their “unprecedented unity and resolve against another Israeli assault” in 2021, complimented the Chilean left for electing “an Indigenous Mapuche woman to head their hard-won constituent assembly,” and says “no country represents working people’s advance—economic, technological, ecological and social—more than China,” with Cuba as a close second. It says the Communist Party of China “made China the indispensable nation in humankind’s struggle for socialism, offering aid and inspiration as a worthy example of a country pursuing socialism in accordance with its national conditions.” ⁵

The group also claims that it was not capitalism that enhanced the productivity of the world economy but “protection and state direction” of the “productive forces” undertaken to “[assert] economic sovereignty” and resist “imperialism.” It takes the term “pluripolarity” from former Venezuelan leftist dictator Hugo Chavez, who used it to refer to the “multiplicity of poles of power and the variety of their national capitalisms and socialisms.” As the title of the essay implies, the group would like to facilitate the transition from pluripolarity to a world united under socialism. ⁶

The group views it as its duty, as well as the duty of the wider socialist movement in general, that it “secures the legacy of the Soviet Union and all attempts to build socialism hitherto with a historically just balance sheet of their achievements, limitations and failures.” ⁷ It concludes with a modified version of the Communist Manifesto’s slogan: “Workers of all countries, oppressed peoples and nations, Unite!” ⁸

Activities

Besides its manifesto, the group also holds numerous webinars with leaders of the socialist movement, such as the Communist Party USA; and Ajamu Baraka, the coordinating committee chairperson of the Black Alliance for Peace and former U.S. vice presidential nominee of the Green Party and running mate of Jill Stein. ^{9 10}

Funding

The International Manifesto Group claims to refuse funding from governments and corporations and does not run ads on its websites or in its programs. It relies on volunteer labor as well as donations from private individuals, encouraging supporters to send funds through Patreon, iATS Payments, or PayPal. ¹¹

Leadership

The major convenor of the International Manifesto Group is Radhika Desai, who administers the contact email for the website. The group has a “Manifesto Launch Committee,” a “Manifesto Drafting Committee,” and a “Coordinating Committee,” along with several other committees dedicated to hosting events and putting out statements. Its financial committee is led by Alan Freeman, who lists a University of Manitoba email address. ¹